Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City’s two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents’ sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn’t remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can’t conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

Review: I wasn’t entirely sold on this book when I started reading it. To me, it felt as though the first half of this book was quite predictable as I made correct assumption after correct assumption. I will say however, that I felt like the second half of this book picked up considerably and helped sway my decision. In the end I felt it was quite enjoyable.

It starts off with a confused Aria Rose (our protagonist). She’s lost a considerable amount of her memories after being told she had overdosed on a drug called Stic. She’s betrothed to Thomas Foster. Aria isn’t really sure what is happening. The Rose family and the Foster family have hated each other for as long as she can remember. She doesn’t remember ever falling in love with Thomas, but seeing as she doesn’t remember much of anything goes along with it.

Then she bumps into Hunter – a rebel mystic. There’s something about him, something familiar she is drawn to about him. She must keep seeing him at all costs, even if it means she will be put in harms way by her own family. During the course of sneaking around to see Hunter, Aria uncovers some dirty family secrets, and the truth about who they are.

If you can push through the first half (and I recommend you try!) the second half will pay off for you. The story itself becomes more sophisticated and the plot becomes more involved. There is politics, violence and a riot. There is double crossing and murder. It became a really gripping story by the end, and I found myself eager to find out what happens next.

I listened to the audiobook version of Mystic City. I’ve listened to many audiobooks in my time… the narrator of this one annoyed me a lot though, which hasn’t happened before. Her voices at times were comical when they weren’t meant to be, and Kiki’s voice just grated on my nerves. It’s the first time I’ve had to tell myself to not let the voice of the audiobook affect the way I feel about the text. So that being said, I would not recommend the audiobook to Mystic City.

I can say though after reading this book in full that I would recommend the book to people, and my advise is to push past the first 100 pages or so… it does become really good!